Jason Fenmore

“Wow”…“damn”… “Whaaaat?”… “Oh my god look at that thing”…

This is pretty much an exact transcript of anyone looking through the Instagram feed of Jason Fenmore, or in the Insta world, you may be more familiar with him by the name Ohdagyo.

Currently residing in Newport Beach, California and often found shooting at the infamous Wedge, Jason produces sone of the most incredible wave imagery you are likely to find.

I’m sure many of you follow him already, but in the case that you don’t - this is your early Christmas present!

His showcasing of vibrant colour and light is combined with considered composition and unique angles. If you are not someone who likes to put yourself inside large caverns of breaking water, these images will both fascinate and terrify you in equal parts.

And sharpness! Jason images are so sharp, you feel like you might cut your finger on them as you scroll through his feed! In a world where 2 inch screens tend to hide a slightly out of focus photo, it’s so refreshing to see pure sharpness image after image - A quick scroll through his Insta Story Highlights will show you plenty of extra large images he’s printed out and there’s no room to hide imperfections on a 60 inch print!

Most importantly of all, he’s a great dude, with a great attitude and mindset towards life and his work, and there’s plenty of nuggets of wisdom and inspiration in here for any fellow ocean photographers.

As always there’s a website and Instagram link at the end of the interview, so please let this be only the surface and dive deep in to the world of @ohdagyo

Enjoy!

Hometown?

I was born in New Jersey, but I grew up in Los Angeles and then I moved to Newport Beach, CA about 4 years ago.

First things first, your photography is insane! How did you get into photography in the first place and more specifically ocean photography?

Thank you!! I originally started shooting my freshman year of highschool about 16 years ago. My best friend was really into it since his brother was a professional photographer. So naturally I wanted to shoot as well since my friend was doing it. When I started we were only shooting with black and white film then, developing our own film and printing in the dark room provided at our school. Back then I was mostly shooting abstract type stuff, portraits and skateboarding. As for ocean photography, I was always a beach kid, I bodyboarded all of my life and spent a lot of time around shorebreak. I remember going to the supermarket with my mother as a kid and begging her to buy me the latest issue of Bodyboarding Magazine. I used to stare at the photos for hours thinking about how difficult it would be to capture said images. Fast forward many years later, my friends were way better at riding waves than I was, and at the moment I realised I was better off capturing them riding, instead of being that one friend “who is just not that good” haha

You definitely appear to bring an artistic eye to your images that take them beyond just images of waves. Is this something you focus on and is important to you?

For as long as I can remember I’ve always been super fascinated with abstract photography and art in general. However in the beginning of my wave photography, I mostly shot the typical “barrel shots” and quickly grew very bored with the repetition in my work flow. Around that time I had discovered a lot of other photographers on Instagram who were creating very abstract work, with less focus on the whole wave and more focus on small details of it. I was greatly inspired to try and find ways to photograph water in a less conventional and straight forward fashion.

I understand you shoot very regularly, if not, every day. How important do you think it is to consistently show up, rather than wait for perfect conditions and have you found you have taken good images on days with minimal expectations?

I do! I try and shoot every morning, it's kind of like my morning coffee, my day just feels better when I start it in the water. There's something very therapeutic about being alone in the water with the crisp salty morning air and the first sign of light coming up over the hills. I think showing up in any form of photography is most important, I've always believed that being present is 75% of capturing great moments, the other 25% is just a tech thing that any photographer can learn. With this mindset I’ve actually managed to capture some of my most well known images during some of the least promising conditions.

For most people reading this who haven’t been to the Wedge. How hectic is it shooting there and what kind of mental and physical preparation is required for days when it’s big?

Wedge is one of my favorite waves to photograph, however it still scares the crap out of me. Whether its 2-3ft or 10ft+, its crazy powerful and very dangerous. I think one of the best tips for mentally preparing yourself is accepting that at some point you will most definitely get caught on the inside on a very shallow sandbar, and when that moment comes try and relax. I personally like to curl up in the fetal position, hugging my housing, to avoid losing my housing or breaking any limbs when I get bounced. As for physical preparation, I’m not too sure, since I’m probably not the most physically fit photographer haha. But I’d think a good cardio routine would be super helpful since bigger days, around 8ft+, can get very strong rips and either send you further outside than you’d like to be or directly in front of a peak breaking on very little water.

Have you had any close calls or injuries in big surf?

I’ve had a few minor injuries here and there, most of them involving my housing hitting me. A couple years ago I got blindsided by a fairly large wave and my housing blasted me in the face, busting open my eyebrow.

You must have hard drives full of shots that many people would only dream of, that never see the light of day. How critical are you of your images and what are the main elements you are looking for to consider it worth publishing?

I do have A LOT of hard drives. I hate to admit it, but I’m kind of a hoarder when it comes to my files. If I think something is even slightly usable, I tend to hold on to it. A lot of the time when I go back and look at old shots I find something that didn’t catch my eye before and I’m thankful I didn’t delete it. As for publishing standards, I have 3 rules: Is it in focus and is the focus in the right spot, is there unattractive motion blur and lastly is my composition good enough that I won’t need to do any major cropping to correct it.

Do you have any pre-visions of shots you want to achieve or are you often adapting your style to the unpredictable conditions you often shoot in?

A lot of the time I go in with the mindset of “I love this one shot I got but I think I can do it better if I try doing _____ differently”. However, most of the time it’s impossible to depend on the ocean to give you exactly what you want and from there you need to adapt and be ready for anything.

Are there any destinations or specific waves you haven’t been to yet that you’d love to shoot?

Teahupoo, I am dying to see this wave in person.

What’s your process for getting your work out there to be seen? Are you often approached inbound now due to social media?

Honestly, I never really had a process, I originally created an Instagram account back in 2011 to promote my DJ photography. But back then IG was just food pics and selfies and I didn’t really take it too seriously. However when I started posting photos of my wave/ocean stuff in like 2013/2014 I started getting a larger reaction to my posts. So around 2014 I re-branded my Instagram to a strictly wave/ocean account and built most of my following from there. Today Instagram is my primary tool for promoting my work.

Any advice you can offer to aspiring surf and wave photographers?

First and foremost, don’t be scared to experiment. Don’t rely on others to give you answers, go out and find them and you may stumble across your own style/techniques on the way.

Lastly, be your own worst critic! It’s totally okay to hate the work you create, but don’t let it discourage you! Analyze and breakdown why you hate it and ways you can improve from there. 

Dive into Jason’s world further here

Instagram: ohdagyo

Website: https://jasonfenmorephoto.com/

FINAL SHOT..